It should be derailed. The station stops are in horrible locations. That extension just proves that BART is only for the suburbanites to get to work. There are several decent spots that need an infill station which would really boost urban ridership.

patrick

BART to San Jose is a huge waste of money. The Caltrain East was a much better idea, as it functions much better as commuter rail, would have cost far less, and would have resulted in faster trips.

CACuzcatlan

Maybe its just me, but from where I’m at, its easier to hope on a bus to The Embarcadero and get on BART then to transfer to the T-Line then got off at the ballpark and get on CalTrain to get to San Jose and back. Also, it seems like it would be a lot easier for people in the East Bay to hop on BART and get to downtown San Jose then to do the CalTrain thing, even with Caltrain east. It’s just less hassle and for me, its worth taking BART to avoid transferring to a different system. As for infill stations, I agree with that sentiment and think BART should focus on that after the San Jose project. Hopefully they wont botch other infill stations as bad as they did West Dublin.

Caltrain from SF to San Jose on a bullet (which is 75% or more of overall ridership) is 60 minutes, and with electrification and grade separation that should approach 45 minutes. BART is 45 minutes from Embarcadero to Fremont. It will be ~30 minutes from Fremont to San Jose.

In theory, BART and Caltrain electrification will complete in roughly the same time frame, at which point Caltrain SF->SJ will be 30 minutes faster than BART.

I am somewhat skeptical any of these things will ever happen, but that’s the theory.

And BART charges by distance at a much more extreme rate then Caltrain. I’d be interested to see the total cost for a ride to San Jose. Not to mention the fact that the route will stretch BART even more then it already is, so fares will increase. And then add on the cost to VTA in respect to how the airport extension has nearly killed SamTrans.

Also, where in the city are you coming from CACuzatlan? There are several bus lines that either pass near or stop at Caltrain and the N still runs there during the week. Furthermore, if the transbay gets built, Caltrain will be located downtown so you won’t have to transfer to the T.

San Jose is said to be 16 miles of track from Fremont, so they would charge an additional $1.20 for the additional distance. It’s kind of weird and inexplicable that they charge less per mile for distance beyond 14 miles.

Good point about the Santa Clara County surcharge. And I was wrong about the distance: it’s 16.1 miles past Warm Springs, not 16 miles past Fremont, so 21.5 miles beyond the current system, for a $1.60 additional fare, plus whatever the surcharge is.